Ladbrokes Tip: The Chairman’s Handicap has produced more Sydney Cup winners than any other lead-up race

The Sydney Cup is one of four Group 1 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival features held on Day 2 of The Championships at Royal Randwick Racecourse on the second Saturday in April each season.

The meeting’s headline race is also the The Championship’s richest – the Group 1 $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m). The Sydney Cup is another lucrative clash offering a total of $2 million in prize money including $1.2 million to the Sydney Cup winner.

In 2020 the Sydney Cup prize money was reduced to $1 million with $580,000 for the winner due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Run over 3200m the two mile classic is held over the same distance as the ‘race that stops a nation’ – the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington on the first Tuesday of November in the spring. Stayers in the Sydney Cup field face off under handicap conditions with the lowest handicap weight being 50kgs, or 48kgs for the three-year-olds. Winners of the Chipping Norton Stakes and Tancred Stakes (formerly The BMW) are exempt from Sydney Cup ballot.

The traditional lead-up to the Sydney Cup is the Group 2 Chairman’s Handicap (2600m) run the previous Saturday and that also offers a ballot and penalty exemption for the Group 1 back at the track the following weekend.

The last horse to complete the Chairman’s Handicap – Sydney Cup double was the Gai Waterhouse-trained The Offer (2014).

The 2020 Sydney Cup took place at Royal Randwick on Saturday April 11, 2020 and was won by the former Kiwi-trained mare Etah James. 

Sydney Cup Race Info

• Date: Saturday April 11, 2020
• Track: Royal Randwick Racecourse
• Distance: 3200m
• Conditions: Handicap
• Status: Group 1
• Prize Money: $2 million ($1 million in 2020 due to COVID-19)
• First Run: 1862

2020 Sydney Cup Results

The 2020 Sydney Cup results and finishing order will be confirmed on Saturday April 11, 2020 and announced below as soon as available.

• 1st: #10 Etah James
• 2nd: #6 The Chosen One
• 3rd: #4 Raheen House

Having her first start for Ciaron Maher & David Eustace, former New Zealand-trained Auckland Cup performing mare Etah James ($14) enjoyed an upset win over the Kiwi raider The Chosen One ($18) in the 2020 Sydney Cup results.

Sydney Cup Betting & Odds

Sydney Cup betting is led each year by the best performing stayers in the Chairman’s Handicap held only seven days earlier on Day 1 of The Championships.

Horses that ran in the first four in their lead-up runs have a top record in the classic and so always feature highly up the Sydney Cup odds as do gallopers with proven two mile form.

Only four Sydney Cup winners since 1983 have come off a lead-up run outside of Sydney with the former Kiwi-trained mare Etah James (2020) having run fourth in the Auckland Cup across the Tasman, the UK raider Polarisation (2017), Adelaide Cup winner Gallic (2007) and Mr. Prudent (2001) who ran third in a Melbourne Group 3 at Caulfield.

Sydney Cup favourites have a solid record in the race over the past decade with six saluting for the punters from 2005 – 2020 most recently The Offer (2014).

Older gallopers also run well in the race with five seven-year-old winners including Etah James (2020), one eight-year-old veteran and Who Shot The Barman (2018) winning at nine years of age from 2006 – 2020.

2020 Sydney Cup Odds

The Sydney Cup 2020 betting odds will be published below as soon as markets on the Group 1 two mile classic are open.

Grand Marshal (2015) won at Sydney Cup odds of $41 in an upset autumn Group 1 result. Photo Credit: Steve Hart.

The Sydney Cup field attracts the season’s best stayers coming out of the Chairman’s Handicap the previous weekend also held at Randwick.

The Chairman’s Handicap has produced more Sydney Cup winners than any other lead-up race with The Offer (2014) the latest to do the double.

Sydney Cup nominations close on a Monday in early February before first acceptances are taken a month later.

The final Sydney Cup field of acceptors and barrier draw are then out on the Tuesday before the race and often attracts horses that have previous two mile form in races like the Adelaide Cup in March and the spring’s iconic Melbourne Cup.

2020 Sydney Cup Field

The Sydney Cup 2020 field and barrier draw will be announced by Racing NSW on the Tuesday leading-up to race day and published in full below.

The 2020 Sydney Cup final field attracted 13 stayers with NE Manion Cup winning UK raider Young Rascal the one to beat in barrier 10.

• Scratchings: #13 Corncrake (1)

2020 Sydney Cup First Acceptances

Sydney Cup first acceptances are taken in early March a month after the original nominations and about four weeks out from race day.

There were 52 Sydney Cup 2020 first acceptances with the UK visitor Young Rascal tipped as the one to beat after a gutsy win fresh in Sydney’s NE Manion Cup.

Sydney Cup Tips

Sydney Cup tips favour proven stayers with good lead-up form at Randwick or Rosehill, especially those that ran well in the previous weekend’s Chairman’s Handicap.

Horses carrying between 52kg and 55.5kg also make for a top Sydney Cup tip with only two winners since 2000 carrying more than that to victory with Gallic (56kg in 2007) and Mourayan (58kg in 2013).

Three-year-olds have poor form in the race with just two wins since 1983 most recently Tie The Knot (1998) for his first, while the last mare to win was Jessicabeel (2010).

2020 Sydney Cup Tips

Our Ladbrokes’ exclusive Sydney Cup 2020 betting tips and exotic selections on the two mile autumn classic will be detailed below the week of the race so stay tuned for the stayers to back and sack in this year’s Sydney Cup trifecta.

• To Win: #4 Raheen House ($8) 

Going for a bit of value and tipping one of the two in the line-up for Newcastle’s Kris Lees, Raheen House, to continue his good form. The progressive six-year-old won last weekend’s Chairman’s Quality in strong fashion and now looks to be the ninth stayer to do the double, the first since The Offer (2014). Comes back in weight, gets a good run from barrier three and was so good late on Day 1 of ‘The Championships’ it is hard not to see him flying home – relishing the step-up to the two miles – for a run in the money.

Sydney Cup Form Guide

The Sydney Cup form guide gives punters all the information they need pre-betting including the trainers, jockeys, weights and barriers for all the horses in the field.

Looking at the Sydney Cup lead-up form is important with gallopers that finished top four in their final lead-up runs dominating the race, while the Chairman’s Handicap is the best form line for the two mile showdown.

Trainer Chris Waller has prepared four Sydney Cup winners in the past decade with Stand To Gain (2011), Grand Marshal (2015), Who Shot Thebarman (2018) and Shraaoh (2019).

Jim Cassidy is the leading Sydney Cup jockey with three winning rides to date including on the Chris Waller-trained 40/1 roughie Grand Marshal (2015).

Sydney Cup Form Facts

• The only Sydney Cup winner to finish worse than fourth in their lead-up run since 2006 was Stand To Gain (2011)
• Only five mares have beaten the boys in the Sydney Cup results in the past 30 years most recently Etah James (2020) and Jessicabeel (2010) a decade apart
• Five-year-olds won five of the editions of the Sydney Cup from 2011 – 2020
• In the years from 2008 – 2020 five favourites in Sydney Cup betting saluted for the punters
• The longest priced Sydney Cup winners in the past 30 years were Just A Dancer ($41 in 1991) and Grand Marshal ($41 in 2015)

2020 Sydney Cup Form Guide

A link to our comprehensive Sydney Cup 2020 Form Guide will be provided for punters below the week of the race.

Sydney Cup Results

Sydney Cup results in the past 10 years have been dominated by the favourites.

The longest priced Sydney Cup winners in that time however were Grand Marshall ($41 in 2015) and Stand To Gain ($21 in 2011) so upsets are also not uncommon. Some of the most noteworthy Sydney Cup winners in the past 30 years include The Offer (2014), Jessicabeel (2010) and Makybe Diva (2004).

Sydney Cup Winners